


At Last

by rogueshadows



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Battle of Endor, Pre-Relationship, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 05:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16758652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rogueshadows/pseuds/rogueshadows
Summary: After the Battle of Endor Luke feels alone, at least until he sits down with Bodhi, and wonders if maybe he doesn't have to be.





	At Last

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



> Small warning: Takes place at end of ROTJ, Luke is sad and a little traumatized by events, has a very brief moment of disassociation/flashback.

When Luke drifts back to the roaring party, after he’s spent his grief and said his goodbyes to the father he never really knew until the end, all he wants to do is find a spot of quiet and maybe a drink. As much as he doesn’t usually go for alcohol, it seems to be the night for it, to let himself breathe before everything changes again.

He seeks out the drink first, pressing through the small crowd, the sea of congratulations and back clapping that he can’t help but get caught up in. He spots Bodhi, sitting on the edge of the crowd with a flask in hand, and makes him his mark, begging off from Wedge and the other pilots as they try to pull him into a sabacc game with the Ewoks. 

Bodhi catches Luke’s eye as he closes the distance, his friendly smile wide and guileless, his hair mussed from his helmet still. He has his flight suit pushed down and tied around his waist. He looks beautiful, perhaps more calm than Luke has seen him in the entire war, and the thought is enough to distract him from his own worries.

“Hey Bodhi,” Luke says, coming close, unsure if Bodhi’s left the spot beside him open for someone else. Jyn and Cassian must be somewhere after all. Bodhi must catch the hesitance because he pats the spot in question, beckoning Luke to settle with the wave of a hand.

“Luke, I didn’t know where you’d gotten to. You’re alright,” Bodhi says gladly, looking Luke over as if to reassure himself of the fact. “I mean, Han said you were, of course but...it’s good to see you.”

“You too,” Luke says, trying not to let himself get caught up on the fact that Bodhi had asked after him. “Heard you did some pretty fancy flying up there.”

“It was mostly Wedge and Lando who did all that,” Bodhi insists, ducking his head. “But I got through it.”

He looks up through his lashes, tilting the flask in Luke’s direction in silent offer. Luke takes it, the metal still warm from where Bodhi’s grip had lingered on it. He takes a sip and manages not to cough at the burn, the bitter taste flowing down his throat, a pleasant heat building in his stomach. Bodhi is looking at him still, considering but not pressing to ask what Luke’s sure everyone wants to know. What Luke did to defeat the Emperor, how he survived at all. All the things he’d struggled to even tell Leia and Han about.

Luke feels his shoulders sag even thinking about it, the day finally catching up with him. He’s not really much company, he realizes, and wonders if he’s keeping Bodhi from the rest.

“The others were talking about playing cards, if you wanted to join in. Not quite sure how the translation process is going to work with the Ewoks but it could be fun.”

Bodhi laughs, “No, I’ve already taken enough credits from Lando and Han, think I’ll let them have a sporting chance against our new fuzzy friends.”

“Kind of you,” Luke says with a smile. “You could just watch though, probably more lively conversation.”

“After today lively isn’t really what I’m after,” Bodhi answers. “You're good. Unless you're trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not. I didn’t mean-” 

Bodhi cuts him off with an easy hand on Luke’s shoulder, his thumb rubbing over the fabric of Luke’s shirt in a smooth distracting motion. “It’s alright to be quiet,” Bodhi says, voice gentle with sincerity.

Luke can’t help but laugh, breaking the moment. “That’s the first time I’ve been told to shut up in a while.”

Bodhi rolls his eyes, turning his easy touch into a shove. “It’s about time, huh?” 

Luke grins back at him before taking another sip from the flask still in his hand, passing it back once he’s swallowed, feeling like alcohol might not be the answer he sought out after all. Not when Bodhi is here, already making him feel light-years better than he had on his own. The way he always has when things got grim. Bodhi takes the flask back but doesn’t drink, closing the cap and setting it aside.

He shifts on the log, stretching his legs out, body pressing closer to Luke’s in the motion. Bodhi’s shoulder bumps against Luke’s and he doesn’t shy away from it, body too tired to even flinch. The ache of the Emperor’s attack still weighs heavy in his bones, carving up his spine unpleasantly every time it comes to mind. He feels himself zoning out at the memory, the flash of the light too clear in his mind before he can barely process the cold feeling.

“Luke?” Bodhi’s voice breaks through it before he can sink too deeply away from the present. Luke takes a deep breath, forcing his gaze back to Bodhi, his concerned expression making new guilt press in Luke’s chest for bringing the mood down. Bodhi deserves better, after all he’s seen. He doesn’t talk about it often but Luke knows, has seen how hard he worked to get in a place where he could fly again after Scarif and the first Death Star.

That they’ve both made it this far has to be some sign from the Force, and here he is, still dwelling on the darkness. He looks away, back to the fire, to the sight of his friends, impossibly alive after everything, and tries to lighten up.

“Sorry,” Luke says, lying for the sake of brevity, though he’s almost certain Bodhi understands. “Just tired, I guess.”

“Well, don’t let me keep you up,” Bodhi teases back lightheartedly, nudging Luke with his shoulder again. 

“Alright, I won’t.” Luke tips his head onto the shoulder pointedly, earning him a laugh. 

“I meant for you to get up, not get comfortable,” Bodhi says softly, though he doesn’t push Luke away. Rather the opposite, he seems to shift lower in his seat, accommodating the tilt of Luke’s head. After everything he’s been through, everything he’s faced, it’s too good of a comfort to deny himself. For a few more moments at least. Then he’ll get up and actually haul himself to bed somewhere, maybe see if a bunk in the Falcon is still open for him. If Han and Leia don’t make it onboard first…

Bodhi speaks softly again and Luke pushes all other thoughts away to listen, the warmth of his voice like a balm. He tells Luke an anecdote about a time he’d fallen asleep in the middle of a mission, back before he’d joined the squadron, and how Kaytoo had carried him halfway across a jungle before he woke.

Luke can picture it, the droid's gangly limbs somehow managing a gentle hold, insisting that it was clearly the most practical way to go about things. Luke shuts his eyes, listening still but giving in to his body’s need for some respite. After an indeterminate amount of time he feels fingers combing through his hair, pushing his bangs back, hears Bodhi’s voice again.

“You really did fall asleep on me,” he says with a soft huff of breath, almost whispering despite the cadence of sound from the party Luke had somehow managed to shut out.

Luke hums against Bodhi’s skin where his face is pressed, trying and failing to will himself to move, to feel ashamed at all for it. It’s only when Bodhi moves purposefully, dislodging Luke from his spot, that he opens his eyes, blinking blearily at him.

“C’mon, let’s get you into an actual bed, or bedroll at least, okay?” Bodhi gets up, offering Luke a hand and tugging him up, leading him away down a path Luke hadn’t even been aware of before. He’s still hazy and has to wonder just how long Bodhi had let himself be used as a pillow. It hardly even registers that his fingers are still tangled with Bodhi’s, not until they reach a set of rickety stairs that winds up the trunk of one of the thick trees into the canopy. 

Bodhi lets go of Luke’s hand, for convenience’s sake, leading the way without hesitation as Luke follows, focusing what little energy he has left on willing the Force not to let the entire staircase fall apart. When they reach the top there’s a small cabin, the door low enough that he has to duck to clear it. For a moment he wonders if they’ll be bunking with any of the natives, glad to enter a mostly empty little structure, half full with woven baskets like it must be some storage space. There’s a bedroll laid out already in the center of the small space, the sight of it seeming to draw all remaining will from Luke to remain upright. 

Luke flops down onto the slim bedroll and sighs in relief, staring up at Bodhi in the dim light. He wonders suddenly if this is goodnight. Bodhi could have other places to stay after all, as one of the most popular pilots in the squadron. Perhaps he would even go back down to the party now that he didn’t have Luke hanging off his side.

Luke won’t begrudge him that and can’t bring himself to ask outright for Bodhi to stay.

Luckily he doesn’t have to, Bodhi chuckling at Luke’s enthusiasm to get to bed and kicking off his boots, untying the flight suit from his waist to push it off entirely, leaving him in only in his undershirt and a pair of briefs. Luke just barely stops himself from ogling the sight, sitting up to push off his own boots as a distraction. He hesitates a moment before kicking off his pants and shirt as well, shoving them aside and settling back against the bedroll.

Bodhi joins him a moment later, playfully whispering for Luke to shove over before he tucks the standard issue blanket up over them. They lie in the quiet dark side by side for a few moments. It’s comforting but not as easy to fall asleep now as it had been before, feeling too unsure of just where the boundaries lie.

He isn’t anything to Bodhi, not really, no matter how close they’d gotten over the years, the way their orbits always just seemed to miss. There was never time for anything like this in the flux of war and grief, for quiet and softness. Even Han and Leia had been all fire from the start.

When Bodhi reaches for him it feels right, like everything good he’d kept hold of to survive. He grasps Luke’s elbow, squeezing gently, before drawing him into his arms. Luke settles against Bodhi’s chest, a soft sigh on his lips at how relaxed he feels in the moment, how cared for.

“Bodhi,” Luke starts, unable to follow through, to reason with him that things never come this easy, that there has to be something better out there that Bodhi deserves.

“Just rest, Luke,” Bodhi answers, without an inkling of doubt in his voice, rubbing a soothing hand down Luke’s back, pressing a kiss to Luke’s temple. A gesture so comfortable it feels like they’re years ahead, settled and whole with one another.

It’s a dream Luke hopes with his whole soul he can make come true, real enough that he stills, takes Bodhi’s insistence to heart, and shuts his eyes.

Bodhi will still be there in the morning and so will he.


End file.
